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Printed letters, December 26, 2010

Kids Aid success
due to community
This letter is long overdue. It is with deep appreciation and gratitude that I say “Thank you” for the overwhelming support the community has given to Kids Aid Backpack Program since we began three years ago.

Because of all of you, the program has gone from serving 10 kids at Orchard Avenue Elementary School to serving over 1,800 kids in every school in District 51 each week of the school year. This community has given the program food and money, volunteers and encouragement.

Thanks to School District 51. There would be no backpack program without the support of the district, and we would be unable to distribute the food in schools. Thanks also to the principals, teachers and staff who make the program go in their schools. Their dedication to students is unsurpassed.

The volunteers deserve a special pat on the back. They are truly God’s hands and feet here on Earth.

My wife and I have lived in Grand Junction for more than 30 years and we have always been amazed at the generosity this community exhibits. The fact that this program has been able to accomplish so much in such a short period of time shows what a diverse community can accomplish when we find a common problem and work together to solve it.

Others are taking notice. Backpack programs are sprouting up in Montrose, Delta, Rangely and Meeker.

Below is a letter addressed to Kids Aid, but it really belongs to everyone in this great community:

“Dear Food Angels,

“Thank you for giving me the backpack full of food every week. The backpack helps my family because we have barely any food and my family and I are grateful.”

So am I.

MIKE BERRY

Executive Director

Kids Aid

Grand Junction

Columnist should stick to diagramming sentences

In order for America to continue to be considered the “light of the world” and “beacon of freedom,” the type of thinking expressed by John M. Crisp in his column, “Why the wealthy should pay more in taxes,” will need to be exposed as being antithetical to the ideals inherent in the founding of this country.

It is also antithetical to the higher ideals Crisp touches on when he says that we “imagine ourselves a Christen nation.”

The founders desired a prosperous nation and free people, as does (in my humble understanding) our higher power. Freedom and prosperity are good things to aspired to. But Crisp displays the typical false liberal piety when he declares, “wealthy Americans owe their money to the country in which they live,” and when he states “once a person has many millions of dollars more than are required for a decent life, the rest of us shouldn’t be embarrassed to expect a significant contribution to the common good.”

Well, I am embarrassed that we, as Americans, have allowed this type of mentality to ever get a foothold. This pitting of rich-versus-poor and us- versus-them is divisive and petty, and leans toward socialism. It’s a shame that not all recognize it as such.

It is also a shame that this man is a teacher of English in a university. Hopefully, he sticks to diagramming sentences and not spewing this drivel to our college kids.

CARSON WOOD

Grand Junction

Atheist off base in views on religion and founders

I would like to respond to the letter in the Dec. 19 edition of The Daily Sentinel submitted by Earle Mullen, president of Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers. He suggested that religion had no part in the building of this country and creating the Constitution. He must have failed his history class.

The first people coming to the New World from England came to worship as they pleased. There were no modern atheists in America at that time. History tells us the first modern atheists came into being around the time of World War I, when they objected to go to war and fight for God and their country. Contrarily, those of us who think we have our heads on straight, believe there is a God.

In the same issue of The Daily Sentinel, there was an article about Indian cultures believing that God put the first soft, wool-bearing sheep on the Earth to support the Indian nations. Not many folks will declare they are smarter than these people.

I believe there is a God who makes the beautiful sunrises, sunsets and clouds and I am especially glad I am in the majority.

VIOLA WARD

Fruita

Reviewer didn’t do justice to historical novel

Please ask reporter Charles Ashby to reread the epic novel, “Roots of Indifference,” as it is a mesmerizing historical tome on natives who lived through horrendous, harsh times. It is a compelling novel in intrigue, suspense and detail.

The novel is rich in romance, lust and genuine love, mystery and tragedy. The devotion to family and cause appears as a sinuous and sinewy story of family triumph, with rich heritage and culture.